head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs ClawBench
Lightpanda has 35,996 GitHub stars, 1,700 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped today. ClawBench has 945 stars, 62 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 3,709% (35,996 vs 945 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; ClawBench is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, ClawBench 7%. Lightpanda was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser-automation), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Lightpanda | ClawBench | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 945 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Zig | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-05 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 62 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Lightpanda if
- You weight community size — 36K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Zig
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ClawBench if
- You want the ClawBench feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and ClawBench fits your workflow better
About Lightpanda
Lightpanda is a headless browser built from scratch in Zig, designed specifically for AI agents and automation tasks. It is not a fork of Chromium or WebKit but a new implementation targeting performance and efficiency in automated web interactions. It lives in the browser automation ecosystem, competing with tools like Puppeteer and Playwright that typically rely on Chromium based headless modes.
read the full Lightpanda overview →
About ClawBench
ClawBench is an open source benchmark that evaluates how reliably AI browser agents can complete everyday online tasks — such as booking travel, ordering food, applying for jobs, and managing email — across live websites, and it is aimed at researchers and developers building or comparing web agents.
read the full ClawBench overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lightpanda or ClawBench more popular?
Lightpanda has 35,996 GitHub stars and ClawBench has 945. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and ClawBench free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and ClawBench under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and ClawBench?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and ClawBench in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Lightpanda or ClawBench?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (35,996 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ClawBench if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.